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5.19.2010

DIY Shapely Word Art

This one has been a long time in the making. Do y'all remember way back when I first showed off plans for our nursery? Back in January? Well, way back then I had already decided to paint this and had already designed it -- it just took five months for me to do anything else about it.

Here it is in my badly Photoshopped version of our nursery that debuted back in January.

But shortly after getting my hands on an overhead projector (I definitely was not going to free-hand this one!) I got to work. It probably took me about eight hours total from printing the design to the last bit of paint.

Here's a quick run-down of the whole process.***Sorry in advance to those who aren't familiar with Photoshop. This will probably sound completely foreign to you. (If you don't have Photoshop, try using a free program like gimp instead.)***

*Find an outline of the shape you want to use and open it with Photoshop.
*Decide on your text and which words will fit on each line. Lay out the lines of text.
*Add guide lines over the shape to section it into however many segments you need.
*In a new layer, type out your first line of text. Make the text box as small and tight around the words as possible. Select the 'move' tool (the arrow).
*Go to Edit > Transform > Skew. Use the Skew tool to drag the outer corners of the box around the words so that the shape of the words fits the shape underneath it.
*Repeat until all the text is filled in and fits the shape.
*Hide the bottom layer that has the shape outline.

Now for transferring the design:

*Print it directly onto a transparency, or if you don't have the right kind of transparency for your printer, print on a piece of paper and trace the design onto a transparency.
*Using an overhead, (Check craigslist and yard sales -- mine was $5! You can also rent projectors.) trace the design onto your canvas using pencil.
*Fill in with paint. You may need to go over it more than once. (If you're scared of messing up, you could paint a background color first so it would be easier to fix mistakes if you go out of the lines.)
*Get rid of any stray pencil marks using a kneaded eraser.

It's really not that difficult to do if you know your way around Photoshop. And if you don't, check out gimp. I'm pretty sure you can do just about anything with it, and it's free!

P.S. For anyone who's curious, the whole project cost $12.50. I had transparencies already, and the paint was left over from another project. The canvas should have been $25, but it was 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

This! This is exactly what I have been needing. This wonderful inspiration!! I have been in need of wall art for our bedroom and wanted to paint something myself, but didn't know what...now I have this FAB inspiration and I am getting to work! Thanks so much for sharing! LOVE it!!! (in case you couldn't tell...)